Education Minister Jevgeni Ossinovski weighed in on the debate on turning secondary level education compulsory, saying that the demographic which does not complete 12 grades of education is costing the economy 50 million euros annually.

An organization of employers last week said Estonia should make the secondary level – after nine grades – compulsory, as the economy needs more educated workers, and Mart Laidmets, a deputy secretary general at the Ministry of Education, said the problem lies in pupils dropping out.

Ossinovski told uudised.err.ee that the ministry is looking into the possibility of mandatory 12 grades, and is conducting an analysis.

He said nine grades is "not enough" in the 21st century and statistically, the 15 percent of the work force with only a basic education earns only slightly more than the average salary.

“It is a great waste of human resources, which Estonia cannot afford,” he said, adding that the cost is 50 million euros annually. He said the question is not about rules, but the fact that too many students drop out.

He said 97 percent of pupils continue after the ninth grade, and the dropout rate should be tackled first.

On average in the EU, 27 percent of vocational school students study in a work-based study program. That figure is 90 percent in Germany, but only 2 percent in Estonia, Ossinovski said. That means more vocational school pupils must learn the practical side in companies, not in schools.

He said the ministry is working on such a program, which should give 8,000 people a chance to learn the ropes in a business by 2020.

The Estonian Supreme Court ruled that the Ministry of Education and Research has to pay the City of Tallinn two million euros to compensate for costs deriving from the implementation of the Private Schools Act.

According to the National Audit Office, although the number of children in Estonia is decreasing, there is a shortfall of more than 2,300 nursery school places in 45 local governments in Estonia as of early 2015, half of which are located in Harju and Tartu counties.

SA Archimedes, Work in Estonia and Ülemiste City are organizing a recruiting event for foreign students studying in Estonia. The fair will take place at restaurant Dvigatel, located in Ülemiste City, on November 11.

EF Education First released today the 5th annual edition of EF English Proficiency Index (EF EPI), the world's largest ranking of countries by English skills. Estonia occupies a respectable seventh place out of 70 countries and is classified as having a very high proficiency level.

The new and expanded edition of the QS University Rankings: Emerging Europe and Central Asia was released on Wednesday, highlighting the top 150 universities in the region, including four from Estonia.

StudyPortals, which introduces study programs all over the world, conducted a feedback survey among international students that evaluated the level of universities all over the world from the perspective of international students. Excellent reviews earned the University of Tartu the StudyPortals International Student Satisfaction Award.

The annaul Researchers' Night Festival, which bills itself as the biggest and oldest science event in the Baltic States, celebrates its 10th birthday this year. The jubilee program features over 400 science events.

The legality of the "compulsory donations" system, said to be in place in several of the country's top general education schools, has been called into question on several occasions as irritated parents regularly raise the alarm. The National Audit Office has now ruled that regular collection of money from parents is incompatible with the principle of tuition-free education and should not be allowed to continue.

Over the years, Dutch and Estonian students have shown similar results in PISA tests. Dutch Undersecretary for the Ministry of Education, Culture and Science Sander Dekker visited Estonia this week to see what his country could learn from the Estonian school system.

Starting this September, the Integration and Migration Foundation will be offering free Estonian language courses at the elementary and intermediate levels to residents of Estonia whose integration has been limited. Almost 6,000 people applied for places on the A2, B1 and B2 courses, registration for which opened in June.

Nearly 140,000 Estonian children, taught by over 14,000 teachers in 533 schools, start another school year today. But it's not only children, who welcome the arrival of September with excitement. Ever since 2009, the share of adult learners in the society has passed the 10 percent threshold.

Head of a Russian-language school in Kiviõli, Aarne Piirimägi, said it is still difficult to find teachers who speak Estonian for Russian-language schools and a third of young Russian-speakers leave school without sufficient Estonian language skills.

Jaak Aaviksoo, named as the new rector of Tallinn University of Technology on Thursday, after a 2-month scandal-filled election process, said it is time to look towards the future, rather than stop and contemplate what went wrong in the elections.

From August, an education ministry funded project, run by the Integration and Migration Foundation Our People (MISA), will begin to teach Estonian on B2 and C1 levels to 195 education workers in the predominantly Russian-speaking Ida-Viru County.

SDE head Jevgeni Ossinovski told Estonian daily Eesti Päevaleht that to restore the normal working atmosphere at one of the leading academic institutions in Estonia, the Tallinn University of Technology (TUT), it is necessary to organize a new rector contest.